Another umpiring controversy in the major leagues and this time our own Fieldin Culbreth is right in the middle of it.

Culbreth, who went to Chapman High School and Spartanburg Methodist, is one of the best umps in the bigs. But what happened Thursday night in Houston is inexplicable.

Astros rookie manager Bo Porter sent a reliever into a game against the Anaheim Angels and then replaced him while he was warming up, never having faced a batter. You can’t do that. But Culbreth, the crew chief, let Porter get away with it. Angels manager Mike Scioscia played the game under protest.

The only thing I can figure is that Culbreth was caught off-guard because in his 20 years in the major leagues, no manager has ever tried something so obviously against the rules. What Culbreth said to Scioscia and why the original reliever wasn’t sent back to the mound is a mystery. He was not injured, which is only reason he would be allowed to exit.

“(Scioscia) pinch-hit for the batter that was scheduled to hit,” Porter said after the game, “which to my understanding of the rule means you can now bring in another pitcher to face the pinch-hitter.”

Porter, it was made clear, has absolutely no understanding. How he got to become manager without knowing a basic rule of pitching changes is mind-boggling. And how a veteran umpire who has worked the World Series twice and the All-Star Game had such a brain cramp is equally as baffling.

About This Blog

Todd Shanesy is an award-winning sports writer who has been twice honored nationally by the Associated Press and more than two dozen times by the South Carolina Press Association. He is a native of Troy, Ohio, and studied journalism at Marshall University (1987 graduate). Shanesy is a former sports editor of the Florence (S.C.) Morning News and has been with the Spartanburg Herald-Journal since 1991.

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